Nate7out's Training Log

[Nate7out]

Nate7out

This will be my training log for the time I follow the SSBBT Novice program. My wife is also training with me.

34 Years Old
5'6” Tall
157 lbs.

A little history: I did weight train starting in 7th grade. My dad was a gymnast and a lifter and was always very strong so I just assumed that most men did strength training. I got a barbell set in 7th grade. I don't think I did much, probably just bench press, curl and wrist curls. My dad had an insane grip and I wanted grip strength so I did shitloads of wrist curls where I would unroll my grip until the bar was at my fingertips and then roll it back up and do a wrist curl.

Freshman year of high school, the varsity football coach had us all on an after school lifting program, based on a bodybuilding split. You started with a major compound lift and then did 5-6 assistance lifts for that muscle group. Followed this type of program all through high school, either after school out of season, or in gym class during football or wrestling season. I always wanted to lift so I applied myself to this program, even though it probably wasn't optimal I did see results.

Started college and found the internet. 1996. Ended up on Cyberpump and reading Arthur Jones articles (a guy who is not well liked around here) and followed his program. These must have been articles from before he started pimping nautilus equipment because it was supposedly the way Casey Viator trained. 1 set of 20 rep squats to failure followed by 1 set of stiff leg dealifts to failure, followed by weighted chins, weighted dips, overhead press, etc. About 20 exercises, all one set to failure. Did that for a year or two.

After that I found out about powerlifting and then switched to a powerlifting split, Squat Mon, Bench Weds, Dead Fri. Did some decent lifts in the gym for my age and weight but never had success in competition, mainly because my coach was a jackass. (I was self-coached.) After about a year of powerlifting I had a back injury and found out I had spondylolisthesis. I saw several others here have a similar condition and it is good to see them able to train with it. I tried to modify my program, but I then quit lifting because I listened to the Drs. and lifting sucked balls without squatting and deadlifting.

Fast forward about 10-12 years to last year and I was 221 lbs and fat as hell. I was on the all fast food + 1-2 cases of beer every week diet. My wife had found this plan to change our eating and wanted to try it. Some in her family have type II diabetes and she wanted to avoid that problem. I decided to do the plan with her. It was a low carb plan (Whole 30 – like a strict version of paleo) and after 1 month I had lost 22 lbs. We then started following the paleo diet and I have gone from 221 to 157 in about 9-10 months.

I have seen some names around here and in the archives I remember from Jay Trigg's garage gym, HIT Digest, Andy's Old School Strength Training board, etc. I have nothing but respect for the people who have still been training this whole time.

My first challenge was overcoming my ego and starting at appropriate weights and making sure my technique was excellent. I have conquered that and I am comfortable with my technique on everything except squats (judging by the technique forum, this one is the most difficult). I have been conservative in my weight increments because I don't want to aggravate my back injury. I have also ruled out power cleans for the same reason (for the time being). I have been adding weight to the bar every time and most of the lifts are starting to be a little challenging. I have found this to be very rewarding, just as it always was before.

The second challenge will be diet. I need to add calories to my diet, but I just stabilized my weight and bought new clothes. I just lost a lot of weight, don't want to gain too quickly. Plus I hate buying clothes before my current clothes are threadbare. I have been adding bacon and eggs as an after workout snack and been eating larger cuts of meat for lunch / dinner. I will just have to monitor my progress and increase when necessary. I also having been having a lot of frozen banana / coconut milk smoothies. I might try adding nut butter to get some protein in there. I also might try reintroducing dairy, whole milk, if I find I am struggling to make gains.

For now, I will just be happy adding 5# to the bar every time, or 2.5#, whatever the case may be.

I am doing the following:

Workout A
Squat 3 x 5
Press 3 x 5
Chins 3 x 5

Workout B
Squat 3 x 5
Bench 3 x 5
Deadlift 1 x 5

History to date (May 18 to now):

Squat 95lbs to 135 lbs
Press 65 lbs to 90 lbs.
Chins BW x 13 (5,4,4) to BW + 7.5 lbs x 3 x 5
Bench 115 lbs. to 130 lbs.
Deadlift 135 lbs to 150 lbs.

So, I am happy with this plan as laid out and will follow it for the near future. I expect I will make gains like a novice because I am so detrained and also I am gaining back what I once had. My gains may be slower because I am not following the exact plan and I am OK with that I am just glad to be training again.

[Nate7out]

We typically do Thu-Sat-Mon; although if something comes up we move Thu up to Weds.

June 8th

Wife was at in-laws for garage sale. Our time was cut short because she got home late. I am OK with that because she brought a bunch of junk to the in-laws and it didn't come back. Junk usually flows the other way. I could have gone and done my whole workout, but I decided to wait for her so we could do something together. She is a good student and follows my technique instructions well, I am a mediocre coach but I can recognize what a good lift looks like and also would recognize dangerous deviations in technique. We record each other and review the video. I have also shown her videos of women on here squatting with good technique. She lets me add weight to the bar for her each time and gets genuinely excited at lifting heavier weights.

A little disappointed we didn't get everything in. We started May 16 by just practicing all the lifts with the bar and then did Workout A on May 18. We had gone 10 consecutive times according to plan.

I bought her some 10 lb. bumper plates so she could deadlift off the floor at the correct height with lower weight. I also bought a set of fractional plates that we both should get some good use from.

Workout B, June 8:
Deadlift 155 x 1 x 5
Bench 135 x 3 x 5

Next up: Monday June 10.
Squat 140 x 3 x 5
Press 95 x 3 x 5
Chins BW + 10 x 3 x 5. (These are the hardest of the lifts right now.)

[Nate7out]

June 10:

Squat 140 x 3 x 5
Press 95 x 3 x 5
Chins BW + 10 x 3 x 5

Went to my brother's and had quite a few IPAs last night also a nice thick steak. Had a hangover all day - work sucked - I'm too old for this shit!

The last reps of set two for the press and chins were difficult. I had to rest 5 mins before my last set to make sure I got # 5. I was planning on going in 5 pound increments until 100 on the press and then considering 2.5# at that point. 90# last time was easy. Don't know if the difficulty was due to my poor condition but I am considering going up 2.5# to 97.5# next press workout. Guess I'll get my money's worth on those fractional plates. Also, I'll be out of town this Saturday, going to the cousin's farm to put up treestands and do some fishing. Wont press again until next Mon so I think I will go 97.5#. May as well not further fuck it up by being greedy.

Next:
Thu June 13
Squat 145 x 3 x 5
Bench 140 x 3 x 5
Deadlift 160 x 1 x 5

[Nate7out]

Thu June 13
Squat 145 x 3 x 5
Bench 140 x 3 x 5
Deadlift 160 x 1 x 5

Hit all my sets. I had ordered the Do-wins with the 1/2" heel the other day (they only had red). They came in on Tuesday and my wife sent me a text, "Dear Dorothy, your ruby red weightlifting slippers have arrived. Click your heels 3 times and you'll be able to squat 250 lbs." I thought it was pretty funny. Squatting and deadlifting both felt good in the shoes, although it seemed like my hips were a bit lower after setup with these.

Next: Mon June 17
Squat 150 x 3 x 5
Press 97.5 x 3 x 5
Chin BW + 12.5 x 3 x 5

[Nate7out]

Mon June 17
Squat 150 x 3 x 5
Press 97.5 x 3 x 5
Chin BW + 12.5 x 3 x 5

Everything went according to plan. Press was easier than last time. Chins - last rep was hard.

Next Thu June 20:
Squat 155 x 3 x 5
Bench 145 x 3 x 5
Deadlift 165 x 1 x 5

[Nate7out]

Thu June 20:
Squat 155 x 3 x 5
Bench 145 x 3 x 5
Deadlift 165 x 1 x 5

Completed all sets and reps.

Next is Sat June 22:
Squat 160 x 3 x 5
Press 100 x 3 x 5
Chins BW + 15 x 3 x 5

[Str8shutr]

Nice work, man. And that is awesome that your wife is lifting with you. My dearest one will do some conditioning on the elliptical and some DB WOs, but I can't convince her to get under the bar. How did you do it?

[Nate7out]

I believe it was the influence of the paleo / primal diet. The people who advocate this type of eating like Rob Wolf and the Mark's Daily Apple guy both are proponents of lifting.

The second factor is the fact that I lost a lot more weight than her even though she was "exercising" (zumba, aerobics, jogging, etc.) a lot more than me. Both of these convinced her that the conventional wisdom about diet and exercise are not correct. She was willing to try something new especially if it meant doing it together.

[Nate7out]

Sat June 22:
Squat 160 x 3 x 5
Press 100 x 3 x 5
Chins BW + 15 x 3 x 5

Squats were hard, press and chins went well.

Next up, Monday June 24:
Squat 165 x 3 x 5
Bench 150 x 3 x 5
Deadlift 175 x 1 x 5

[Nate7out]

Monday June 24:
Squat 165 x 3 x 5
Bench 150 x 3 x 5
Deadlift 175 x 1 x 5

Got all sets and reps.

Next, Thurs June 27:
Squat 170 x 3 x 5
Press 102.5 x 3 x 5
Chins BW + 17.5 x 3 x 5